Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-04-12
WHOLESALE ARRESTS
n "ar'ns "ans of Railroad Robbers in
.ustody-Halfa Million OF Dollars sto.
len Dy the Pan Handle Employe,
.er reports Exonerate Engineers and
Firemen. A"

r, FITTsBURG. Pa, April IL.
e l1ost Important Arrests ever made in
,ni, part Vi tue country, were begun at an ear
h'ur. 'his morning. They will not be
colhplefed before late this afternoon and .t
that time the officers of the PanbanaI. al
road will have in custody the most darn
gang Of railroad robbers this connt-v has
ever known. How many member. haloro 70
II are not known, but they run I'D into The
nunofeos. Their stealings and the amount
s'u,en reaches to nearly half million of
uoiiars. simultaneous arrests were made all
aioi the line OF the road between here and
Ootuihpus- Warrants have been in the he nds
vi Tue omcers for some time, and the persons
es'eu Will comprise nearly the entire
freight men OF the line. They include the
CONDUCTORS, brakemen, engineers and fire.
men. The first arrests were made about two
O'Clock tins morning, the police surprising
elghteen men at their boarding houses. The
men were taken at once to iail.
further arrests were made between two
O'Clock and daylight, when 46 men, all rail.
roao employees, conductors, brakemen, fire.
l'e" ana engineers we're behind the bars In
speahihg OF the arrests, prominent officer
., VI Tue ROAD sad: For three years past the
Fan Handle road has been systematically
moving
Trains were broken open and goods stolen.
including every description of merchandise
1t Is estimated that al least $500, 900 worth
OF goods were stolen, for which the company
had to pay. In August last we got a clue.
ana the company determined to push it. To
TINS end detectives were employed who fol-
lowed every scent, and finally we had infor-
nation upon which to proceed When every
thlng was ready we decided to'make a move
all along the line, from Columbus to Pitts
burg. and two o'clock this morning was fixed
to strike the blow
About eighty warrants were issued for men
in Pittsburg, | can't tell how MANY at other
places, but it was at every point along the
line. 1t will run up into the hundreds 1t
Is the biggest thing of the kind that ever hap
pened IN Plttsburg, or in railroad matters in
the world, for nothing like it has happened
before. | can't tell who the men are under
arrest, nor who the leaders are. This much
Will say, however, we suspect outsiders of
being implicated, but know nothing posi-
tive"
John H. Hampton, the attorney for the
Pennsylvania Co., stated today that the off
cials of the road were aware that the culprits
were employees of the road In September
there were eighty crews of freight trains Oh
the Panhandle road coming in here. Of
these crews no less than seventy-fve were
found to be crooked. crew consists of a
conductor f1agman and two brakemen. In
some cases all the men were involved. In
others only part, The statement, added
Hampton, that the engineers and fremen
were mixed up in the robberes, is wrong; !;
not a single one is involved. The goods
were obtained by thieves in various ways.
In many instances seals were broken, while
in others hatchets were used to but hole in
the end of the car, through which the men
crawled and took what they coveted All
kinds of goods were stolen, including sewing
machines, guns, revolvers, etc.
Seven more arrests have been made.
Nearly two hundred warrants are still out,
and it is expected that the list of arrests in
this city will be swelled to eighty before
night. A number of houses in various parts
of the city were raided and large quantity
of goods recovered.
Every man arrested had stolen goods some
where. Among the prisoners were several
desperate characters who were wanted by the
police for other offences. They were all
alarmed, and when not taken by surprise re-
sisted arrest. Numbers overpowered them
however, and all we're lodged safely in the
Jail.
! A special dispatch from Dennison says that
officers have arrested James and w. L. Col
lis, with several thousand dollars worth of
velvets, and higher priced dry goods in their
0ssession articles taken from the United
States bonded cars on routes to Chicago, st.
Paul and other points west. One Busby, the
worst man in the gang, slipped his handouts
and threw himself from the train, while it
was going, and escaped.
The most important arrest made here was
| .Ln e<>fD Oh Ha pallpd
station house this forenoon and was immedi-
ately locked up. He at first protested that
he was innocent, but finally admitted that he
had large lot of stolen property at his house
| and told how the goods came into his posses
sion.
About the Pan Handle yards today there
was a scene of unusual quetness. The crews
of men that had been arrested had left large
number OF trains deserted. There were "a
of these trains packed close together on the
side tracks in the yards. The detention of
the freight, however, was only temporary.
The railroad officials had taken special pre-
cautions to continue moving freight prompt
lv. An extra force of sixty men had been
employed, and these were put on the deserteo
trains in place of the arrested employees.
One of the officials who were engaged IN
running the criminals to earth, makes thls
| statement: ~ ne easier oouhu '"."s
not molested. The western bound trains
were the ones proved upon. AS near as we
can estimate it, these robberles nave Deen
going ON two years. After most exhaust
i've search of the entire division of the Penn
sviyania railroad into Pittsburg, we came TO
the conclusion that the robberies were COM
mitted west of Pittsburg. We then devoted
ourselves entirely to the western DIVISION.
| Afte- two months work we found the roooer-
les we're committed between Plttsourg ana
| Dennisop and that out of so crews 90 were
pr.ctisipg a gigantic scheme of robbery. we
were badly stalled at first by the 1act tnat
the seals on cars were generally found intact
when the cars reached Columbus on the way
westward. The seal is of lead about the
size of Ave cent piece, and is about an
eighth of an inch in thickness Inc wire
used in connection with it Is one-sixteenth
| of an inch iron wire. There are curls In 1t
to nreyept its being pulled through the lead
zeal. The method of using 1t Is as follows :
| The wire is passed through the seal and then
through the hasp on the car door and back
| rhrourb the seal again, forming an unorokeh
oircle- An instrument is then used In in
n-a.sing the seals. That in use, say In
Pirtsburg. stamps on the inverse side the
letters ..P. G. T." and upon the diverse side
.sp ST. L." this indicating that the car IS
intact when it enters the p. G. st, L. rail-
road bound westward. The two wires are
;mbrdded at the same strike as the letters
are imprinted. One dark night one OF our
hriphtest men stumbled upon the mystery OF